Interviewer: We recently saw your quote �I don�t believe in religion, and I don�t believe in giving it all up to Jesus.� Does this mean that you�re no longer a Christian?

Kanye : I believe in God. Christianity wasn�t an option when I was growing up, it was the only thing. It wasn�t like I was given the decision at the time. You know how you decide that you want to be a Doctor or a Lawyer or a painter or a basketball player or whatever? You�re not given a decision of what religion you want. Your parents just give it to you. Like, you�re a Jew or you�re a Muslim or you�re a Christian. I feel like religion is more about separation and judgment than bringing people together and understanding. That�s all I�m about. I�m about accepting people for who they are. Live and let live. I fully embrace every culture there is. I love when people are who they are to the fullest. Like, I think that Cam�ron is just as much a fashion icon as Stefano Pilati, who is basically the best dressed person on Earth. That�s the head designer of YSL. (Yves Saint Laurent)

Interviewer: If you had to give yourself a specific religious title, like are you studying anything new now?

Kanye: I would never go into a religion. I guess my religion is just what I do religiously when I wake up in the morning. I had a conversation with my Dad when I was twenty years old and I don�t believe in this everybody�s going to hell thing; everyone who isn�t a Christian is in the wrong. His response at that time was, �Well I�d hate to see you not spend eternity with me and burn in the depths of hell.� I was like well hell, I don�t want that to happen, so let me set up this insurance plan and just do this. (he laughs) . My father is much more open-minded about that now, though.

Interviewer: So do you believe in Jesus at all?

Kanye: I believe in Jesus as an icon, but I don�t feel the responsibility to put my life on Jesus. I feel I need to take responsibility for my own successes and failures. Why I say, �I don�t give it all up to Jesus� is because there are a lot of people who don�t take responsibility for their lives, and always think Jesus is gonna handle it. And, that�s what I refuse to do. Christianity is embedded in who I am, so I will still say things like this is a blessing, amen, and still say prayers; things that your Grandmother embedded in you. I�m always gonna have a little Chicago in me, a little hood in me, and a little Christianity in me. Just because it�s what I know. But, I do not believe that other religions are going to hell, I do not believe in a lot of elements of it. I want to express to people that I do believe in God, but I also have friends whom are atheists. I have friends that are super duper Christians. If I come to a person that�s a super Christian and I tell them what I believe in and they tell me what they believe, I super respect that. I like when people are into what they�re into. If that�s your thing, and you break it down and you�re really into the bible and you believe everything about it, and you believe in immaculate conception and stuff like that. Like, you believe in the �rib� and all that, I�m just like, man, that�s dope for you. People will say �Aw, man he wasn�t saying that Jesus thing when he made the song!� But, when I made the song, that�s how I felt, but this is six years later. This is how I feel now. The whole thing about religion, other people�s religion and other things that they shell out, I have my own opinion on everything. Anything that I take, I�m going to do it my way. Like, if I take a car, I�m going to paint it the way I want to paint it. My thing was, after my mom passed, it wasn�t a thing where I lost my mind or anything. I was less scared to speak my mind. Cause there�s nothing I could lose. There�s nothing that could be taken away from me. Soon as you�re not willing to change and go off of what you feel that morning, your life starts moving in reverse like Benjamin Button or something. Now, you�re moving backwards, you�re not growing anymore. Life is about change and if you�re not willing to change you�re not really willing to live your life, and soak in the amount of new information that�s given to you. Since day one, I knew the difference between right and wrong. I could predict what was happening. I had karma and anyone who�s ever had beef with me, something happened to them, like it�s really just been in God�s hands.

Religion is like clothing. People want comfort. People don�t want to have to take that off. People don�t want to accept the concept of there not being a heaven possibly, or the concept of losing someone and not seeing them again. The only thing that keeps you going is the idea that you will see them again.

It�s [religion] also like branding. Some people go Bapes head to toe, some people do Polo head to toe. Some people go Rocawear head to toe. Me, I kind of just go into the store and take the piece that I like the most. I�m no poster child for any particular brand. What I have to realize and what shocks people, or polarizes people is that I�m actually a brand. I�m something that people build up and believe in. They name their kids because they believe Kanye believes this. But I�m also a real person; a growing person and an artist. I don�t want the responsibility of waiting to move because this many people believe this. Like, if you believe in Kanye, if you believe in me, then just believe that I�m going to be honest with you and express to you what I believe that day. I�m not gonna be holding a congregation and flooping prostitutes and it come out to them years later. I�m gonna come to the congregation like man, last Friday I got some some **** from a prostitute, I�m just gon� go head and let y�all know.

Interviewer: We recently saw your quote �I don�t believe in religion, and I don�t believe in giving it all up to Jesus.� Does this mean that you�re no longer a Christian?

Kanye : I believe in God. Christianity wasn�t an option when I was growing up, it was the only thing. It wasn�t like I was given the decision at the time. You know how you decide that you want to be a Doctor or a Lawyer or a painter or a basketball player or whatever? You�re not given a decision of what religion you want. Your parents just give it to you. Like, you�re a Jew or you�re a Muslim or you�re a Christian. I feel like religion is more about separation and judgment than bringing people together and understanding. That�s all I�m about. I�m about accepting people for who they are. Live and let live. I fully embrace every culture there is. I love when people are who they are to the fullest. Like, I think that Cam�ron is just as much a fashion icon as Stefano Pilati, who is basically the best dressed person on Earth. That�s the head designer of YSL. (Yves Saint Laurent)

Interviewer: If you had to give yourself a specific religious title, like are you studying anything new now?

Kanye: I would never go into a religion. I guess my religion is just what I do religiously when I wake up in the morning. I had a conversation with my Dad when I was twenty years old and I don�t believe in this everybody�s going to hell thing; everyone who isn�t a Christian is in the wrong. His response at that time was, �Well I�d hate to see you not spend eternity with me and burn in the depths of hell.� I was like well hell, I don�t want that to happen, so let me set up this insurance plan and just do this. (he laughs) . My father is much more open-minded about that now, though.

Interviewer: So do you believe in Jesus at all?

Kanye: I believe in Jesus as an icon, but I don�t feel the responsibility to put my life on Jesus. I feel I need to take responsibility for my own successes and failures. Why I say, �I don�t give it all up to Jesus� is because there are a lot of people who don�t take responsibility for their lives, and always think Jesus is gonna handle it. And, that�s what I refuse to do. Christianity is embedded in who I am, so I will still say things like this is a blessing, amen, and still say prayers; things that your Grandmother embedded in you. I�m always gonna have a little Chicago in me, a little hood in me, and a little Christianity in me. Just because it�s what I know. But, I do not believe that other religions are going to hell, I do not believe in a lot of elements of it. I want to express to people that I do believe in God, but I also have friends whom are atheists. I have friends that are super duper Christians. If I come to a person that�s a super Christian and I tell them what I believe in and they tell me what they believe, I super respect that. I like when people are into what they�re into. If that�s your thing, and you break it down and you�re really into the bible and you believe everything about it, and you believe in immaculate conception and stuff like that. Like, you believe in the �rib� and all that, I�m just like, man, that�s dope for you. People will say �Aw, man he wasn�t saying that Jesus thing when he made the song!� But, when I made the song, that�s how I felt, but this is six years later. This is how I feel now. The whole thing about religion, other people�s religion and other things that they shell out, I have my own opinion on everything. Anything that I take, I�m going to do it my way. Like, if I take a car, I�m going to paint it the way I want to paint it. My thing was, after my mom passed, it wasn�t a thing where I lost my mind or anything. I was less scared to speak my mind. Cause there�s nothing I could lose. There�s nothing that could be taken away from me. Soon as you�re not willing to change and go off of what you feel that morning, your life starts moving in reverse like Benjamin Button or something. Now, you�re moving backwards, you�re not growing anymore. Life is about change and if you�re not willing to change you�re not really willing to live your life, and soak in the amount of new information that�s given to you. Since day one, I knew the difference between right and wrong. I could predict what was happening. I had karma and anyone who�s ever had beef with me, something happened to them, like it�s really just been in God�s hands.

Religion is like clothing. People want comfort. People don�t want to have to take that off. People don�t want to accept the concept of there not being a heaven possibly, or the concept of losing someone and not seeing them again. The only thing that keeps you going is the idea that you will see them again.

It�s [religion] also like branding. Some people go Bapes head to toe, some people do Polo head to toe. Some people go Rocawear head to toe. Me, I kind of just go into the store and take the piece that I like the most. I�m no poster child for any particular brand. What I have to realize and what shocks people, or polarizes people is that I�m actually a brand. I�m something that people build up and believe in. They name their kids because they believe Kanye believes this. But I�m also a real person; a growing person and an artist. I don�t want the responsibility of waiting to move because this many people believe this. Like, if you believe in Kanye, if you believe in me, then just believe that I�m going to be honest with you and express to you what I believe that day. I�m not gonna be holding a congregation and flooping prostitutes and it come out to them years later. I�m gonna come to the congregation like man, last Friday I got some some **** from a prostitute, I�m just gon� go head and let y�all know.

Kanye : I believe in God. Christianity wasn�t an option when I was growing up, it was the only thing. It wasn�t like I was given the decision at the time. You know how you decide that you want to be a Doctor or a Lawyer or a painter or a basketball player or whatever? You�re not given a decision of what religion you want. Your parents just give it to you. Like, you�re a Jew or you�re a Muslim or you�re a Christian. I feel like religion is more about separation and judgment than bringing people together and understanding. That�s all I�m about. I�m about accepting people for who they are. Live and let live. I fully embrace every culture there is. I love when people are who they are to the fullest. Like, I think that Cam�ron is just as much a fashion icon as Stefano Pilati, who is basically the best dressed person on Earth. That�s the head designer of YSL. (Yves Saint Laurent)

Kanye : I believe in God. Christianity wasn�t an option when I was growing up, it was the only thing. It wasn�t like I was given the decision at the time. You know how you decide that you want to be a Doctor or a Lawyer or a painter or a basketball player or whatever? You�re not given a decision of what religion you want. Your parents just give it to you. Like, you�re a Jew or you�re a Muslim or you�re a Christian. I feel like religion is more about separation and judgment than bringing people together and understanding. That�s all I�m about. I�m about accepting people for who they are. Live and let live. I fully embrace every culture there is. I love when people are who they are to the fullest. Like, I think that Cam�ron is just as much a fashion icon as Stefano Pilati, who is basically the best dressed person on Earth. That�s the head designer of YSL. (Yves Saint Laurent)